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University welcomes Stephens as associate vice president for Communications and Marketing

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Dr. Jennifer Stephens is the associate vice president for Communications and Marketing, the first person to hold this position.

Overseeing the University’s Office of Communications and Marketing, Stephens will guide strategies and programs for institutional branding and marketing, web and digital communications, internal and crisis communications, trademark licensing, development and alumni communications, advertising, social media and news media. Stephens also will serve as the University’s chief communications officer. She is a member of the University Council and reports to the vice president for University Advancement, John Blohm.

“Jennifer Stephens is an accomplished and trusted leader with demonstrated success in communications, marketing, branding, public affairs and stakeholder engagement, as well as broad-based leadership experience in higher education,” Blohm said.

Stephens has more than two decades of communications and leadership experience in public higher education. She comes to UL Lafayette from Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) in Lawrenceville, Ga., where she was deputy chief of staff to the college’s president. She previously served as GGC’s chief communications officer and as the chief government relations officer.

During her tenure, she provided leadership in strategy, change management, marketing, and communications. Stephens was one of the key leaders supporting GGC’s rapid growth from 100 students in 2006 to the more than 12,500 the institution serves today. Prior to her role at GGC, Stephens was the chief communications officer at Georgia Perimeter College, serving 20,000 students through six metro-Atlanta campuses and online.

“The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is a remarkable institution and one that is on the rise,” said Stephens. “I am excited about the opportunity to partner with faculty, staff and leadership throughout the institution to build on the great momentum that already exists here and further advance the institution’s distinctive profile in the state and beyond.”

She is active in the American Council on Education (ACE), where she served as the state chair for the ACE Women’s Network in Georgia. During the 2015-2016 academic year, she participated in the ACE Fellowship Program, a leadership development program that focuses on identifying and preparing the next generation of senior leadership for the nation’s colleges and universities. In 2014, she was selected to attend the Harvard University Institute for Management and Leadership in Education.

Stephens has a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Georgia’s Institute of Higher Education. She holds a master of divinity degree in biblical studies from the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and bachelor’s degrees in psychology and in graphic design, both from Auburn University. She and her husband, Todd Stephens, have two teenage daughters.

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